He arrived in the United States in May 2001 on a tourist visa and helped plan out how the attacks would take place. On September 11, 2001, he boarded United Airlines Flight 175 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane so that Marwan al-Shehhi could crash it into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, as part of the coordinated attacks.

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An Imam,[3] Ghamdi was from the al Bahah Province of Saudi Arabia, a province in the south west of Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Al Bahah Province nestled between the resorts of Mecca and Abha, Al Bahah is one of the Kingdom’s prime tourist attractions. Ghamdi shared the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Haznawi. This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers, and they are thought to have met each other some time in 1999.

Known as al-Jaraah al-Ghamdi during the preparations, the only one of the hijackers to use a variation on his own name,[3] Ghamdi quit school to fight in Chechnya against the Russians in 2000, and received a US Visa on September 3 of that year. In November, both he and Salem al-Hazmi flew to Beirut, though on separate flights and at different times. Ghamdi flew on the same flight as a senior Hezbollah operative, although the 9/11 Commission could find no evidence that either knew the other. His family claims to have last seen him in December.

Virginia ID Photo

In March 2001, Ghamdi is reported to have met with a Jordanian who has been charged with providing false identification to at least 50 illegal aliens. Hijackers Majed Moqed, Hani Hanjour, and Nawaf al-Hazmi are reported to have met with him at the same time.[4][5] Inexplicably, this is more than a month before Ghamdi first arrived in the United States, according to the FBI and the 9/11 Commission.

Hamza and Ahmed al-Ghamdi stayed at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On September 8 they checked out of the hotel, and moved into the Days Hotel on Soldiers Field Road in Brighton where they remained up until the attacks.[6][7]